The present invention relates to an apparatus for activating an ionizable product. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for activating an ionizable product capable of accelerating activation by using a magnetic field.
The applicant of the present invention proposed a method and apparatus for activating textile products in Japanese Published Patent Application 2002-115174.
In the method and apparatus disclosed in the application, a textile product is placed in a magnetic field so as to emit ionized gas to the textile product, taking into account the fact that ionized gas is able to activate textile products. Accordingly, the textile product can be activated uniformly because the ionized gas is attracted by the magnetic field to penetrate the textile product through fibers and the gap between the fibers, reaching the back of the textile product. In this instance, activation of textile products refers to any condition refreshing textile products, such as recovery of elasticity, improvement of hygroscopicity, improvement of the aesthetic property, addition of luster, deodorization and bleaching.
In this connection, it has been conventionally considered that ions (hereinafter referred to as “plasma particles”), in a state of ionized gas attached to ozone, conduct ionization by contacting with the surface of a product to be processed. The applicant applied ozone to a plurality of laminated fabrics, finding that all fabrics were activated even if no ozone was detected among the fabrics. Namely, it was found that plasma particles instead of ionized gas penetrated the product, thereby conducting ionization. Therefore, if a greater force of attracting plasma particles allows these particles to penetrate the product, it may be possible to activate any ionizable material such as metal and wood.
However, the applicant has found that the conventional method is insufficient in attraction of plasma particles and requires improvement when it is applied to ionizable materials such as metal and wood.
Furthermore, when the activation method and apparatus disclosed in the patent application described above are applied to thick fabrics, futons and the like, it is necessary to turn over these products several times and emit ionized gas to them each time, accordingly. Thus, the method and apparatus have a drawback to be solved.